Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1887-12-28


defend the prisoner. Bill Sergeant,
you'll be foreman of the jury, Harry
Burns, you'll be juryman, and you
and YOU picking out eleven men
from the crowd, who took there
places inside the railing.
"'Jim Hoobes was my friend,
cried a youngish man standing beside
the prisoner. It's my right to hang
his murderer
"We'll see whether you II hang
him, returned Squire Runcle grimly.
He hitched his revolver closer in his
hand and added: But you kin be
prosecutin' attorney all the same.
Now. you young lawyer fellows, I'll
give you just fifteen minutes to work
up your case
"Of course l was astonished at my
appointment as lawyer for the defense,
but the Squire evidently wanted to
me chance, and / wasn't one to
back out. In my fifteen minutes
learned just how the case stood /: My
cl lent, Haines, was lately arrived
& amber. He was already a crony of
Harry Burns and Bill Sergeant, who
were both professionals with the cards,
and of the Squire, who liked a game
rs we'll as the next man. That was
the reason the latter was determined
he should have fair trial. Hopes.
the dead man, had been rather
prominent in Benicia, seven miles up
the road. tFhe two men had quarreled
in Vallejo the previous night, and
had left Harry Williams saloon
together. When dawn broke, six
hours later, Hopes was found dead
in the Benicia road, two miles out,
with three bullets holes in him. His
money was untouched. The bullets
fitted Haines' revolver, of which,
at the time Of his capture, three
chambers had been discharged. My
opponent in the case was Robert, or
bob" Hillman, of some little repute
as lawyer in the Vellejo, and,
as he had said, friend of Hopes
the dead man.
"The trial began. Things looked
decidedly black for the accused. l
had but one trump, and played it. I
got Harry Williams on oath, and he
swore that Hines had returned within
twenty minutes after leaving the
saloon, and had been there all night.
1t was pretty good alibi, for no one
could make four miles in twenty
minutes admitting he had run both
ways. / don't believe l spoke more
than five minutes, but l appealed
directly to Bill Sergeant, who was the
the foreman Of the jury. Squire
Runcle summed up strongly in my
clients favor, and the jury discussed
the question half an hour. There
were, unluckily, three men on the,
jury who were dead against the gamb-
ling fraternity in Vallejo, and they
were determind to hang Haines. After
a while the jury wanted to deliberate
and the squire, with an exp ressive
glance at Sergeant, ordered the crowd
out, put Haines in charge of the con-
stable who was on hand at this time,
locked the door, appointed deputy
constable to guard it, and went over
to Williams t6 bet on Cooked Hat
The constable took Haines to the old
Capitol building, and locked him in
the janitor's room.
In the adjoining room lived young
artist, a relative of Commodore Far
ragut's wife. That young fellow
could give the best imitation on
violin of an old time Methodist
preacher saying the Lords prayer of
any man l ever heard, and for two
hours, while Haines was awaiting the
verdict, the artist droned out the
Lords prayer. l hung about the
squire's waiting for the door to open.
1t was 8 o'clock and very dark when
l saw Bob Hillman, the prosecuting
attorney pro tenn, approach the depu.
ty at the door. He had a gallon
demJohn in his hand, and l, not five
feet away. saw him give the deputy a
bottle and whisper to him. Then he
sat the demijohn before the door and
walked away. Then the deputy took
a pull at the bottle and walked away.
Then ! rushed to the demijohn and
pulled out the cork. The purest Ken
lucky bourbon it was, and smelt rich.
There was clip of paper on the
handle. I guessed what it was, tore
it of, drew out a piece of yellow
wrapping paper had in my pocket,
and with pencil stub wrote
Compliments of the Defense
II fastened it to the handle and
got out f sight. A second later Bob
Hillman approached the door and
tapped gently. 1t was opened, the
demijobn was carried in and the door
was shut. Hillman walked off, the
deputy returned, and | crossed to
Williams, salnop IN road nv etnlau |